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FCC inquiry on dynamic spectrum access draws industry support

Parties responding this week to an FCC notice of inquiry (NOI) were generally supportive of proposals to use dynamic spectrum access (DSA) technologies and secondary market arrangements that would promote efficient spectrum use and thereby free up frequencies for wireless broadband services. Some wireless and satellite industry players, however, voiced concern with the potential for harmful interference. In the NOI, adopted last November, the FCC sought comment on how DSA and similar “cognitive radio” devices can promote spectrum efficiency and how the creation of test-beds, new database models, and the modification of spectrum management practices can advance DSA development and boost spectrum utilization. The FCC’s inquiry also ties in with National Broadband Plan recommendations on the promotion of efficient spectrum use as a means of freeing up channels needed for wireless broadband. Voicing support for the FCC’s proposals, the Wireless Innovation Forum filed a report with the FCC that identifies a range of cognitive radio and DSA technologies that would be “beneficial for commercial, defense, and public safety application,” adding that secondary market mechanisms could be combined with DSA technologies to increase efficient spectrum use. Microsoft Corp. also voiced agreement with the FCC’s plan and noted that “the ideal spectrum blocks for expanding [DSA] technologies are those underutilized blocks located near existing unlicensed spectrum allocations.” While recommending “constructive, incremental steps to facilitate and incentivize more dynamic use of spectrum resources,” Shared Spectrum Co. urged the FCC to “work with NTIA and other federal and non-federal stakeholders . . . to carefully evaluate new and existing spectrum sharing approaches, including geographic coordination, dynamic frequency selection and DSA.” Wireless association CTIA, meanwhile, emphasized the NOI’s acknowledgement that “further work is needed to show that the [DSA] technology will function as intended under actual usage conditions . . . without causing harmful interference to existing spectrum users.” In a similar vein, AT&T cautioned that, while DSA technologies “hold great promise . . . these techniques are wholly inappropriate for introduction to the licensed mobile bands, except where closely coordinated and controlled by the incumbent licensee.” The Satellite Industry Association was blunt in its assessment, asserting that terrestrial deployment of DSA devices in the satellite bands “is not technically feasible and would pose a serious threat of harmful interference to satellite networks.”